Lesson From Bolivia

“The growth of religious ideas is environed with such intrinsic difficulties that it may never receive a perfectly satisfactory exposition. Religion deals so largely with the imaginative and emotional nature, and consequently with such uncertain elements of knowledge, that all primitive religions are grotesque and to some extent unintelligible.” (Lewis Henry Morgan, 1877)

Bolivia is about to pass a bill, “The Law of Mother Earth,” that will establish new rights for nature: “the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.” If you read either the Guardian or Truthdig today you may have seen this reported. Ecuador is said to have recently passed somewhat similar legislation. It is not completely clear just how rigorously such rights will be protected, but it surely is a major step in the right direction (if, that is, you have any respect for or interest in the environment, global warming, and survival).

I submit that a “Law of Mother Earth” could never have even been conceived in the United States, let alone passed. Bolivians can do it because they still have vestiges of their “primitive” religious beliefs. Bolivians believe in the Pachamama, which in their view is a living being: “She is sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organisation.” It is fair to say, I think, that the Pachamama (a kind of earth deity) is some form of a supernatural being in the Bolivian belief system, and as supernatural beings are the essence of religious beliefs, she is a religious figure. Certainly in Morgan’s view (that is still held by many today I am sure), she would be regarded as, if not grotesque, at least unintelligible. What this legislation does is make Mother Earth’s rights equal to what we think of as other rights, including human ones. As Bolivia has suffered from environmental degradation for many years, mostly from mining and the extraction of other raw materials, and as Bolivians are eminently sensible and seriously interested in the environment (Mother Earth), and now that Evo Morales is President, with his clearly stated “Movement Towards Socialism,” and they have for the first time the power to do something about the years of naked exploitation, they are doing so. I think this is a truly important development in the current concern with Global Warming and environmental degradation. I think it would be great if it would be taken as a model by other countries. Morgan’s statement about primitive religions was made at the time Europeans believed themselves and their institutions (including religion) were at the very apex of “civilization” with all others far below that (arbitrary) standard. His view was, of course, narrowly ethnocentric as well as completely simplistic and naïve, as very little was known about non-Western/European religions. In my view (being an atheist) all religions are pretty grotesque and unintelligible, and equally “primitive.”

A Law of Mother Earth could not have occurred in the United States because most of our religious views derive from the Christian Bible rather than beliefs about earth deities or what have you. Such a law would be in direct opposition to the basic Christian belief that mankind should have dominion over the earth, and thus, by implication at least, ought to be able to do anything they wish (which, alas, we have shamelessly done). Genesis 1 is clear on this point:

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

There are slight variations on this translation but this one is from the standard English Bible. It certainly cannot be said that Western-Europeans have been good stewards of the earth or any of the creatures that exist on it. This is so obvious I need not mention things like the Endangered Species Act, the Passenger Pigeon, or the hundreds of other species that have disappeared while under our dominion. Not being a religious person I don’t believe in any religion I have any knowledge of, but I would be sorely tempted to believe more in an earth deity that looked after nature than in an old, bearded man, living in the sky surrounded by angels. As far as grotesque and unintelligible goes, what about the belief that a man was swallowed by a whale, lived in its belly for three days and then emerged, or that the sea parted to allow people to pass, or someone built an ark large enough to contain two or more of every creature on earth. How grotesque and unintelligibly medieval (to me at least) is it that old men, almost all White until fairly recently, dress up in expensive gowns with funny hats and parade around holding elaborate staffs and keep women from being able to do the same, or even manage their own bodies. How about still others that handle serpents or speak in tongues, or believe the earth was created in seven days, six thousand years ago. How unintelligible to believe that God(?) created a species too stupid to even manage their own affairs, let alone nature? And how ironic to think we may have the best chance for survival by following the tenets of some surviving “primitive” religion.

Do not disrespect that which
gives you sustenance.
Move gently across the land
and the blue oceans,
like dancing with a lover.

Morialekafa